The Solitary Paradise
by Maverick87
Summary: He didn't think it would be gone. Oneshot


**Legal Disclaimer: I don't own Sonic or SEGA.**

**The Solitary Paradise**

Sonic hadn't been to the Great Forest in a long time. The trees floated effortlessly in the wind gusts, the air had a chill that ripped and pulled at the lungs, and the sun had just started rising over the eastern front of white, snow-capped mountains. The current time was six in the morning. He had awoken early to partake in what he had called his daily "fun run". The event's purpose was to stretch his legs, and to keep up his stamina. For he needed it, he needed it in case of attack from Robotnik, or so he had said.

A ray of light softly made its arc into his emerald eyes. He squinted to keep his sight ahead of him. The canopies above streaked like airships waiting to land upon the ground that only felt his shoes touch it, for the past three weeks. This running, this ritual, was something he had just started. It was not like Sonic required the extra exercise. The hedgehog's lungs were mechanical in nature; he was unbreakable and immovable to the harsh air that entered his throat. A dip in the path ahead sparked a smirk from his lips.

"_There isn't anything like this is there?"_

A rushing of water could be heard and like clockwork, he began to hold his feet back prompting a gradual slowdown of speed, until finally, coming to a complete stop; Sonic had halted mere inches away from the edge of a cliff. If anyone had been watching him, they surely would have believed the cerulean hedgehog to be dead from the jagged rocks below. Sonic always hoped someone could've filmed him doing this. He knew he looked cool, and he loved the flair of dramatics that accompanied a near death experience.

A smile had now become a grin at the thought. Had every part of his life not been such? He couldn't count all the times he had met the grim reaper, only to tell the Angel of Death that he would see him "some other time". In a way, he understood that this was life. Living meant pushing every waking moment to some kind of physical limit; living meant surviving, and biting the hands that normality fed.

This was why Robotnik wanted him dead. He felt he was the only motivation, the only motivator for his entire nation. Without himself to guide the masses, to push them onward, the war could not be won. They would be destined to fight battles that never ended, plan attacks that could never be ceased. A nervous shrill ran up his spine. The option could never happen. His demise meant the world's as well.

The hedgehog kicked some small pebbles below his feet. His eyes followed each one as they tumbled from the perimeter to the watery depths beneath. Mobius' last natural wonder roared before him; it was the only waterfall he imagined left on this terrestrial rock. Sonic's nose could smell the vapors from the mists. When he looked straight down, a fog emerged to where nothing could be seen through it; an impenetrable denseness. Further outward a lake had expanded to the foothills of the mountains. The water had no waves. The only audible noise was his breathing.

"_There's nothing out here…"_

Upon his first arrival, he noticed many differences from back home. Animals dwelled in the silent serenity that surrounded him. Metals and oils had not scourged these lands. Blood and tears were not necessitated to keep this place healthy. The only force was nature, and the laws that bound it to the planet.

Sonic nodded his head as the sun came into complete view; the waterfall was the halfway point of his exercise. From here he would turn back around, head back to his hut in Knothole, and see all his friends. Tails, Amy, Sally, Rotor, and even Antoine, always seemed delighted from his presence, and who was he to let his friends down? His white glove pulled his quills back as his hand swept through them; sweat visibly appeared upon his fingers. The temperature had quickly picked up around the area, and the sun's cameo would not make things any cooler or easier. It was time to return.

"Drop the anchor my boy! Let's catch as much as we can!" A voice shattered the silence.

Again a beam had come to Sonic's face. Apparently someone else had found this place too. Someone, a sailor from the sound of it, was using the lake to fish. His eyes came back to the fog. A hardened focus overcame the hedgehog, for he could hear the ruffle of a boat's engine over the calming roar of the falls. However, there was no one to be seen. Then, like the sound of a gunshot, a boat immersed itself from the natural smokescreen that had encased it; a rowboat, brown, with a shiny glazed finish which was only detected due to the glare of sunlight from the stern of the vessel. Two bodies inhabited the ship. An older bear from the grizzled look and possibly his son, whose frumpy face indicated the sullen time he was having rowing the boat. Sonic couldn't blame the kid. He hated fishing more than anything else alive. All the waiting, all that time wasted, all the hopes of catching something, only to be dashed by utter failure at the end. To him, impatience was a virtue, and fishing was a very foolish practice.

The father was wearing a captain's hat; the type worn by those who owned yachts and mansions. The dad continued with orders of "dropping anchors", "setting sails", and "manning the poop deck" while repeatedly casting his rod back and forth. None of the commands made sense, for the rowboat had only oars, and fishing seemed impossible with constant moving the bears were committed to.

Sonic chuckled, for this was a sight to see. Once more, pity rumbled within him, more so for the kid than anybody else.

"_Oh god…Who fishes like that? The guy must be insane!"_

For awhile, the hedgehog simply watched the boat, watching the son painfully row onward toward the center of the lake. He guessed that the kid had to be fifteen or so, and his dad was probably taking him on one of those horrendous "father-son" bonding trips; the trips which always came out to a climax of yelling and screaming at each other, to the point where any closeness that was had, was gone.

Sonic had thankfully never been on such an excursion; he never had a father. He never had someone to please, or someone to push him forward in life. Maybe this was a connection that not having a father was the key to him being such a hero. His friends never bossed him around, even Sally, only seemed to give him orders as mere guidelines. He existed as a soul unburdened by interpersonal relationships.

A monarch butterfly flew downward into the mist, as he persisted to watch the two sailors. A tear rolled down face, but only for a moment. Reality had haunted him, but he knew better than to mull over something so trivial, so…mundane. He glanced to see the rowboat had stopped. Both fishermen had thrown their lines into the water, and like him, were just sitting there, waiting for something to happen. Sonic turned around, distancing himself away from the view. He was doing the one thing he despised. Checking his shoes, the hedgehog made sure the laces were tight, and in his head he counted down to taking back off toward Knothole. Standing back up he snorted in defiance; he had seen enough here.

"_One…Two…Three…"_

"Look son! I got me a fish! I got me a fishie! A big fishie!"

The interjection had averted Sonic's gaze back to the bears' situation. The father had begun to reel in something with his line. It was something big too, because Sonic could see the vessel being slightly pulled in the direction of where the line had been cast. Yet, in the distance, a large bubbling could be distinguished.

"_Now what in the world is that?"_

Sonic gazed back toward the bears. The dad had already caught the fish. He held it up for his son to see, jumping up and down like an uncontrollable monster. The kid did not even move to look; the little bear was that apathetic. Sonic turned back to find the bubbling was gone. All the water remained still.

"_Was that just my imagination? Surely there couldn't be anything out here…"_

As if Sonic's thoughts had summoned it, a colossal, metallic snake raised itself high into the air. It had to be at least one hundred feet tall. Dark, red eyes scanned through everything around the area. The hedgehog watched as the reptile came down upon the boat without hesitation. He thought he heard some kind of screaming, like someone's skin is being ripped off their body, or putting someone's arm through a wood chipper, but the idea felt artificial. Sonic thought that maybe he should help. But wasn't it all over? Was there anything to salvage from this? He knew all too well. Two lives weren't worth paradise.

"Processing termination of living area." A low, guttural voice emerged from the machine.

The snake had begun to shoot a large, fluorescent, laser which upon striking the water, made it boil and evaporate in seconds. A hole formed from within the lake, and Sonic watched all the fish rise to the surface, before melting away to ash. In minutes, the lake had literally disappeared, leaving nothing more than a smoldering crater, from where an ecosystem had once been. Sonic didn't know what to do. He couldn't kill it easily, and what if he couldn't kill it at all? Leading a robot of that magnitude back home meant the end of Knothole.

The robot had now taken attack to the trees to the left of where Sonic stood. Leaves became blackened soot. Gusts of wind blew dirt, ash, and dust all around him. The waterfall simply made loud smacks against the barren stones below. The hedgehog coughed, trying to clear his airway by pushing the winds away with his hands. It came to no avail. He knew what he had to do.

Without a countdown, without checking his laces, Sonic ran away.

As he sprinted toward Knothole, blurriness had become his only companion. With his legs hitting every patch of earth harder than the last, he broke the sound barrier. Sonic raced back in complete silence. His gaze never behind him.

­_-Maverick87-2008_

**Author's Note: This didn't come out the way I wanted, but there are no failed attempts in writing. Besides, I needed to get some third person done for once in my life. Thanks for reading.**


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